Old Mother sat cross-legged, staring into space, leaning against a pyramid of skulls.
'She will tell you what happened,' said Kal. 'Ask her.'
Horg reached out and touched Old Mother on the shoulder.
She tipped over sideways, and fell stiffly to the ground. 'She is dead.'
In a loud, compelling voice Kal said, 'My eyes tell me what happened here. I see pictures as I do when I sleep. Za and Hur came here to free the strangers, so that they could steal the secret of fire for themselves. Old Mother tried to stop them, and Za killed her. Za has gone with them. He is taking them back to their own tree in return for the secret.'
Horg said slowly, 'The old woman is dead. Za and the strangers are gone. It must have been as your eyes saw it.'
'I am your leader now,' shouted Kal. 'Follow me, and I will lead you to the strangers!'
It was Susan who reached the edge of the forest first. Pushing her way through a screen of bushes, she peered out onto the darkened plain and shouted, 'There! Over there! I can see the TARDIS!'
The others plodded slowly after her along the path. Carrying the weight of Za had slowed them down to a crawl. Frequent rests had been necessary, and it had taken them an incredibly long time to reach the edge of the forest. But they were here at last, and safety was in sight.
'Come on, Doctor,' shouted Ian. 'We're nearly there, just one final effort.'
'Yes, yes, very well,' grumbled the Doctor.
'Barbara, you and Susan hold back the bushes so we can get the stretcher through,' said Ian.
Barbara and Susan pulled the screen of bushes aside, and Ian led the way through the gap with the stretcher. As he came out onto the plain, he could make out the square blue shape of the TARDIS
just ahead.
Suddenly, to his horror, he saw a number of burly, skin-clad figures emerge from behind the TARDIS and advance towards them.
'Back!' shouted Ian. He retreated clumsily back into the forest, hampered by the stretcher, swung round and saw another group of tribesmen blocking the path.
The leader had a short jutting beard, and there was a stone knife in his hand.
They were trapped.
10
Captured
The Tribe was holding a council.
The four recaptured prisoners stood before Horg and the rest of the Tribe, guarded by a circle of warriors, led by Kal. Za was there too, still on his improvised stretcher, which had been placed on the ground before the flat-topped rock. Hur knelt anxiously beside him.
A kind of trial was taking place, with Kal accusing Za, and justifying his own actions to the Tribe.
The Doctor and the others watched carefully, realising that their own fates were probably at stake as well.
Kal was concluding his story. 'Za and the woman were going with the strangers - with our enemies! I led the others and we stopped them, brought them back here.'
'The strangers are not our enemies,' said Hur. 'They saved Za from death when the tiger attacked him by the stream.'
'Hear the woman speak for the strangers,' sneered Kal. 'She and Za let them out of the cave of skulls, and fled with them.'
'You lie,' shouted Hur. 'Old Mother set them free.'
'Is Za so weak that his woman must speak for him?'
'I say it was Old Mother! She showed them another way from the cave of skulls. She will tell you!'
'The old woman speaks no more,' said Kal. 'She does not say she did this, or did that. Old Mother is dead. Za killed her.'
Kal stooped and snatched the stone knife from beneath Za's skins. 'See! Here is the knife Za killed her with!'
There was a rumble of anger from the Tribe.
Suddenly, the Doctor spoke, his voice loud and commanding.
'The knife has no blood on it.'
Everyone stared at the knife. As the Doctor had said, the stone blade was clean.
Kal looked down at the knife in his hand. 'It is a bad knife! It does not show the things it has done.'
The Doctor laughed scornfully. 'It is a finer knife than yours.'
Kal hurled the knife to the ground. 'I say it is a bad knife.'
The Doctor pointed to the knife where it lay on the ground. 'I say this is a fine knife. It can cut and it can stab. It is a knife for a chief. I have never seen a better knife than this.'
'I will show you one!' Kal snatched out his own knife and held it out. It was a fine knife indeed - and the blade was caked with dried blood.
The Doctor's voice rang out. 'Your knife shows the things that it has done. Your knife has blood on it! Who killed the old woman?'
Za raised himself on one elbow. 'I did not kill her.' He struggled to his feet, and stood swaying to and fro a moment. 'Kal killed her!'
'The old woman set the strangers free,' screamed Kal. 'She showed the the way to leave the cave of skulls without moving the great stone. I, Kal, killed her!'
The Doctor stepped forward, spreading out his hands. In some extraordinary way he was dominating the whole savage gathering. 'Is this your strong leader? One who kills your old women in his fury?
He is a bad leader. He will kill you all when he is angry.' He leaned across to Ian and spoke in his normal voice. 'Follow my example, young man!'
The Doctor bent and picked up a stone and hurled it at Kal.
'Drive him out!'
Kal gave a roar of anger, and brandished his knife.
Ian, too, grabbed a stone and flung it at Kal.
'Yes, drive him out. He kills old women!'
Hur snatched up a stone and threw it. 'Kal is evil! Drive him out!'
Reeling a little, Za bent and picked up a stone. 'Drive him out!'
Suddenly, everyone was picking up stones and throwing them.
Kal stood helplessly for a moment in the hail of missiles, and then turned and fled into the darkness.
'Well done, Doctor,' whispered Barbara.
The Doctor gave her a self-satisfied smirk. 'Child's play, my dear. These people are just as susceptible to mass hysteria as the people of your own time.'
The victory over Kal seemed to have given Za back his strength. 'Kal is no longer of this Tribe,' he shouted. 'We will watch for him. If he comes back we will kill him.'
Hur said anxiously, 'Kal is strong, and you are weak from your wounds. He will kill you if he can.'
'Remember,' said Ian. 'Kal is not stronger than the whole Tribe.'
Za looked hard at Ian, as if struggling to understand the new idea. At last he nodded, pleased. 'We will all fight Kal, if he comes back.' Za pointed to one of the young warriors. 'You will watch for him!'
The warrior nodded and moved away from the cave, looking in the direction in which Kal had fled.
His authority restored, Za turned to the other warriors. 'Return the prisoners to the cave of skulls.'
Ian sprang forward. 'No, Za. I am your friend. Take us to the place where Kal found us, and I will make fire for you.'
Za ignored him, selecting other Tribesmen. 'We shall use the great stone to close the cave again, and you will stand by another place that I will show you.' He raised his voice. 'Take them away!'
Tribesmen descended on the Doctor, Susan, Ian and Barbara, gripping their arms.
'Don't struggle,' called the Doctor. Rather unnecessarily, thought Ian, since struggle against their brutish captors would have been quite useless.
They were dragged away.
Za watched them thrust into the cave and saw the stone rolled tight against the entrance. He turned to a warrior and led him to a clump of bushes not far from the cave. 'The other way out of the cave leads here. If you see them come out - kill them.'